A General Overview of the Trip in Pictures...

First, we had a great ride courtesy of Anchor Trailways Tour Bus Company. We arrived at the Aquarium, broke out lunch, got our tickets, and began our day in the fresh-water building. It is an amazing aquarium, several stories tall, in which you start at the top, and then work your way down from one zone to the next. Especially interesting were the sturgeon tank, in which you could touch the fish as they swam by, and then also the extremely large denizens of some of the world's rivers. Once we finished the fresh-water building, there is a plaza with interesting architectural features which led to the salt-water building. It is set up in a similar fashion. Besides the thousands of spectacular salt water fishes, the main feature is the huge ocean reef tank, which was home to a sea turtle, sharks, and nearly 4000 other fish! A highlight was the manta ray petting tank, and really amazing were the jellyfish tanks at the end.

Our trip was not without excitement, as the bus did not want to start at the end of the day! Storms were coming in, and we were all getting a little nervous about what we might do. But, it all worked out, and we made it to camp. As Joe Ogle, former Cubmaster and Unit Commissioner, and founder of our Pack would say, "The rougher the war, the better the story!" After dinner, we had a reverent flag ceremony, and the next day, we found our own wildlife friend, who enjoyed the apple we shared. After lunch, we loaded everybody back on the bus and had a great finish to a super weekend. Clay finishes up the slideshow, because he was in charge of the DVD's that were played on the bus, so was probably the key reason we had peace, although not so much quiet, on the ride home!

With Sadness....

It is with sadness that I must write that Joe Ogle,synonymous with scouting in Metropolis, the person who was responsible for the creation of this Pack, died on Saturday. His visitation will be held at the Acken Funeral Home in Metropolis, on Tuesday. The visitation starts at 5. Cub Scout Pack 101 will have a nice memorial bouquet at the funeral home. On the accompanying note, I asked that it be from all former and current scouts of Pack 101.

If you can make his visitation, your scout is encouraged to wear his uniform. Scouting was a huge part of Joe's life, and I know his family would be touched to see how many people Joe impacted through scouting.

The funeral will be held at the Methodist Church at 11 am on Wednesday.

Roger